Journey of the Lone Marine
by DaedricEclipse
Summary: When a sole marine is left behind after a cataclysmic battle, he will have to depend on new allies he never thought he'd have, and he will have to adapt to the coming challenges of both his mind...and his heart. Rated T for violence, blood, and cursing.
1. The Beginning

The Journey of the Lone Marine

A/N: Hello! This is my first story, and I'd like to say some things to make some things before you read this story for it to make sense, among other things. In the story, everything is full-scale in comparison to an average human. I'd like comments and constructive criticism, but not outright flames. If you do only flames, then they will be used to fuel the pits of Tartarus. Other than that, I hope you enjoy the story!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story other than my OC's. StarCraft and related content all belong to Blizzard.**

* * *

Chapter 1: The Beginning

His eyes burned as dust and smoke was blown into his face by the symphony of chaos and explosions. The marine shot at a small 4-legged Protoss walker, a Stalker, as his fellow soldiers concentrated their fire on the mech. The bullets pinged off of the walker's shields, causing a ripple effect on the psionic barrier. Sparks and muzzle flashes from the guns lit up the air around them, and the Stalker's hull began to crack and break from the merciless barrage of flying bullets.

With one final shot fired at the Stalker, the Protoss walker ignited into a fireball that blinded many of the marines for several seconds. One of them, the commander of the platoon, ran ahead of the other marines and charged the hill. Photon fire danced and flew around him as he ran straight for the defending Protoss soldiers. A group of light flyers could be heard overheard, screaming above the ground forces as they unleashed volleys of missiles at the enemy mechs.

The commander stepped out of the way of the bus-sized foot of a Thor that was firing at a Warp Prism overhead. The Thor fired a salvo of missiles that struck the length of the Warp Prism's glowing-blue hull. The Warp Prism returned fire, firing white-hot bolts of energy at the Thor, blowing off the left arm of the Terran mech. The Thor staggered backwards from the blow, then fired again at the Warp Prism, this time hitting the bridge and engines. The metal frame of the Warp Prism groaned as it twisted and melted, and the flying Protoss aircraft finally exploded, sending flaming bits of metal raining down on the ground forces.

Several of the Banshees were shot down, their entire frames on fire as they plummeted to the ground. Several medivacs touched down, dropping off fresh reinforcements and loading wounded marines onto the shuttle. Several of the medivacs were either shot down as they landed or as they tried to get away. Weapons fire from Protoss photon cannons illuminated the midnight sky as ships flew frantically high above the battlefield.

The Terran saw something out of the corner of his eye, and he just barely avoided being sliced in half by a zealot's blades. The 8-foot-tall Protoss warrior easily towered over him. Its armor was intricately designed, each curve and bend in the armor adding a sense of sophisticationtrying as hard as he could to avoid getting hacked to pieces. He aimed his gun at the zealot's arms and fired, most of the bullets either being deflected by the zealot's blades or missing the Protoss warrior entirely. The soldier rushed the zealot, jumping to the right at the last second as the zealot's swords sliced through the air where his head had been. He fired his gun at the side of the zealot's head, the bullets going straight through the Protoss warrior's head like butter. The result was that the zealot's body fell to the ground with a thud, and the commander ran off again to help out the Terran forces.

The commander's radio crackled as the panic-filled voice of a marine shouted over the noise of battle, "Commander Isaac! We're pinned down by the left flank by a large force of Zerg! We need help!"

Isaac's eyes widened in terror as his mind raced, _'Zerg! __**HERE?**__ Why now, of all times? They said that there was no Zerg anywhere_ **near**_ here! Damn military intelligence, completely unreliable!'_ Isaac yelled at his platoon to follow him, and he ran as fast as his legs would allow. He dodged fire from enemy Protoss, and after several minutes of running and dodging enemy fire, he arrived to find a complete massacre. Zerglings, with their bony "skin" and drooling, malformed mouths were pouncing on marines and tearing them apart with their razor-sharp talons and claws. Others were melted by exploding Banelings, enormous sacs of acid that suicide bomb their enemies, or were skewered by the spines of a Hydralisk, it's jaws leaking deadly acid as it continued to impale Isaac's fellow marines.

Isaac turned his attention to a snarl that came from his right, and he just barely had enough time to raise his gun and fire at a Zergling that was about to pounce on him. The bullets met the zergling's head, the flesh ripping apart as the abomination died instantly.

He turned around and fired at a hydralisk that was just about to skewer him, the creature slumping to the ground with smoking holes in its scaled head, but not before one of its spines pierced his left arm, causing him to yell out in pain.

The marine suddenly felt a sharp, burning sensation in his right side, and he turned to see a zergling's elongated talon embedded in his side. He grabbed the zergling's head, and flung it away from him, sending it crashing into a boulder. He whirled around to shoot another hydralisk in the chest, causing it to stagger and, with a few more shots to the head, brought the monster down.

He heard the clanking of a marauder's footsteps, and he looked to his right to see a group of the over-sized battle suits rush past him, firing their missiles at the Zerg offenders. The missiles tore into the Zerg with ease, although several marauders fell victim to the savage onslaught of the zerglings. As a few minutes passed, Isaac knew that they were losing this battle on both sides. Most of the Terran forces had either been decimated, forced to retreat, or pinned down.

Suddenly, Isaac heard an earth-shattering explosion from high above him. He looked up to see a Battlecruiser had taken a point-blank shot through the bridge and main engines. It stuttered a bit, as if trying to stay in the air, before finally giving in with a horrid, mechanical groan. In what felt like hours to Isaac, the battlecruiser fell to the ground, flames erupting from the breaches in its hull and licking the outside of the ship.

Isaac's mind finally registered what was happening, and he did the first thing that came to mind: **Run like hell**. He did just that, and ran as far as he could before he saw an opening in the ground. To most people, jumping into a hole in the ground is a _bad_ idea. To Isaac, on the other hand, it was one of his only chances of surviving. He dove into the hole just as the battlecruiser hit the ground. A ball of fire engulfed the entire battlefield, and after several minutes, the night became dark once again.


	2. The Day After

Journey of the Lone Marine

Chapter 2: The Day After

A/N: Hey, everyone! Here's the second chapter of Journey of the Lone Marine. I hope you enjoy, and leave a review if you want! Once again, all flames will be used to fuel the pits of Tartarus, Hell, or whatever realm of damnation and punishment you believe in.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story other than my OC's. StarCraft and related content all belong to Blizzard Entertainment.**

* * *

He woke up with a start, his heart pounding in his chest as he bolted upright. Isaac couldn't remember what had happened the previous day, several chunks of his memory missing. He opened his eyes, and he could see nothing but darkness all around him.

The Terran brought a hand to his helmet, his hands groping around in the dark for the helmet's built-in flashlight. After 30 seconds of searching in the pitch-black darkness, Isaac finally felt a small button on the right side of his helmet. He pressed it, and he was blinded by the sudden introduction of light to his dark surroundings. _'Christ! It's like I'm a goddamn vampire,'_ he inwardly cursed to himself.

Isaac's vision slowly came back into focus and he looked around, his helmet light illuminating the area around him, revealing that he was in a small cave of some kind . Stalactites hung from the ceiling, water dripping from their dull tips. Several stalactites met up with their ground counterparts, forming pillars that seemed to hold up the ceiling of the cave. Isaac looked around for his rifle, desperate to find his only offensive means of survival. He found it lying a few feet away from him, several large strips of the gun's warpaint missing. The marine picked it up, taking the clip out to inspect how much ammo he had left. There were only 13 bullets left in the magazine, to which he groaned in annoyance. He looked behind him, and saw a tunnel that probably led back up the way he came. Seeing as there was no other way to get out of the cave, he latched his rifle onto the back of his suit, then started following the tunnel in hopes of getting to the surface.

He continued going up the tunnel, his boots making a dull clanking sound as they hit the cold, stone ground. As Isaac went up, he noticed that the air faintly smelled of smoke and ash. He continued walking towards the surface, his surroundings growing brighter and brighter, and the smell of smoke growing stronger, almost to the point where the smell began to suffocate him, until he finally reached the surface.

He squinted against the harsh sunlight, his eyes slowly adjusting from the pitch-black darkness of the cave to the near-blinding light of the surface. When the light from the planet's sun became bearable again, he saw the aftermath of yesterday's battle. His missing memories came flooding back to him, and he remembered everything that had happened the previous night. He said a silent prayer for the fallen, and then turned his attention to the scorched battlefield.

Burnt husks of Terran buildings and vehicles littered the ground, and pieces of Protoss mechs were still burning. He saw the enormous form of the battlecruiser that had crashed, its wings laying almost halfway across the battlefield, and the ship's bridge nearly torn in half. It dwarfed almost everything else, its shadow covering most of the battlefield. Isaac passed by the remains of a siege tank, its cannon melted halfway through and its treads turned to ash. _'Damn...nothing survived this,'_ he thought to himself as he walked past all of the wreckage. Little did he know, a pair of red eyes followed him as he traversed the scorched terrain.

He stopped when he walked by a medivac that seemed to have escaped the explosion relatively unscathed, despite the fact that one of its wings had been completely torn off, and most of the engines were either gone or smashed. Isaac walked up to the cockpit, and pressed a holographic display that was just to the left of the pilot's door. The cockpit hissed as the door slowly opened, revealing broken electronic parts and bent metal panels that littered the floor. The soldier walked inside, bits of glass and metal crunching under the weight of his combat suit. He walked into the cockpit itself and saw the corpse of the dead pilot on the floor. Isaac looked at the body, and then took the pilot's helmet and put it in the storage locker in the corner of the cockpit. He looked inside the locker for anything else that could be of use to him

The commander walked towards the back of the medivac, and opened up the panel to the medivac's power cells. _'If I can just get this bird back up and running, I might be able to send out a distress signal. If I can't get one out, then at least I'll be able to survive a little bit longer by using this ship as a shelter,'_ he told himself as he examined the medivac's power cells.

Isaac cursed as he saw that the power cells were empty. He stepped away from the panel, and turned just as he was tackled to the ground by a zergling. His rifle flew out of his hand, sliding across the floor and out of his reach. Isaac yelled, surprised by the sudden attack, and looked at the zergling with fear in his eyes. Here he was, almost completely defenseless and at the mercy of one of the worst enemies of the Terrans. The fear that had begun to rapidly accumulate in the time that the zergling had ambushed him soon turned to anger, and he glared at the zergling and snarled, "Well? What the hell are you waiting for? Why haven't you killed me yet, you ugly, over-sized bug! If you want to kill me, then DO IT ALREADY!"

The zergling looked at him with a blank stare, one devoid of any emotions, and tilted its head to the side. It chittered in what Isaac thought was a curious tone, and slowly backed away from him until there was a somewhat comfortable distance between them. The lone Zerg did nothing other than watch Isaac as he got back up on his feet.

Isaac kept his eyes on the zergling, his body tensed in case the Zerg abomination decided to try and kill him again. To his surprise, it still hadn't moved an inch from where it sat. He looked at it straight in the eye, as if challenging it to move. The zergling's head followed Isaac's every movement, its eyes still devoid of any emotions.

The Terran marine grabbed his rifle, which had fallen to the floor when the zergling pounced him, and held it in the ready position. He turned back around and walked slowly towards the door, his eyes not looking away from the zergling, and walked out. He wouldn't know what had happened to it until a little while later.

Isaac walked around the battlefield, examining the vehicles and Terran buildings to see if there was anything he could salvage. All he found was a half-drained power cell from a downed Banshee, a combat shield from a nearly-collapsed barracks, and a couple of solar-powered lanterns from . He put them all in the survival pack on his waist, and kept on walking. His eyes squinted from the sun's harsh rays, and he covered his face with his helmet's visor, casting a slight golden tint to the landscape.

After a few more minutes, he heard a clang about 5 feet to his right, and he turned to see a damaged MULE weakly whirring underneath pieces of vehicle plating. He walked over to it, and pushed the plating off of the MULE. The MULE turned to "look" at him, humming weakly as it shakily floated over to him. Isaac touched it gently, opening a panel on it's side to reveal its main power supply. He saw that both of its power cells were almost completely drained. He thought for a moment, then pulled out the power cell he had picked up earlier. He looked at it for a few seconds, then replaced one of the drained power cells, and listened as the electrical humming that came from the MULE grew slightly louder.

The MULE chirped mechanically and somehow cheerfully as it circled around the marine, seemingly grateful to him for helping it. It looked from left to right, then hovered over to the metal carcass of a Hellion. The MULE started to work on it, the light of a welding torch emanating from one of its arms. Isaac didn't know what the MULE was planning, so he decided to lean against the leg of a Thor mech, and waited for the MULE to finish whatever it was doing.

After about half of an hour, Isaac heard a loud, metallic thud, and he looked in the MULE's direction to see that the Hellion's side was cut open, a hole big enough for a marine to crawl through now carved into the driver's side of the Hellion. He looked at the MULE, which beeped in confirmation, motioning with one of its arms for Isaac to go in.

Hesitantly, Isaac crawled through the hole and entered the Hellion, being careful not to touch the white-hot and jagged metal from where MULE had cut. His eyes saw the faint glow of several power cells, as well as the faint light from the Hellion's control panel. Isaac crawled over to the controls and tapped a few random buttons on the control panel, mostly in the hopes of doing something that would help him. He jumped in surprise, hitting his head on the roof as the Hellion's systems flickered to life. Isaac rubbed the top of his head, cursing slightly at the pain.

Isaac stared at the numerous screens with a look that showed that he had no clue what to do next. He turned around to face the four power cells that were laying underneath the Hellion's steering mechanism. He examined them, and saw that all but one of them were completely drained. He picked up the power cell that wasn't drained and put it in his survival pack, then looked at the others, seeing that there was actually still a little bit of juice left in them. He picked them up, tucking them inside his pack as he crawled back out of the Hellion.

As soon as his boots touched the ground, he was knocked down by an unseen attacker. He turned and saw a wolf-like creature that towered over him by about 3 feet. Isaac jumped to the left, right as an enormous clawed "hand" struck the place where his head had been one second earlier.

Isaac jumped left and right, dodging the swipes from the feral canine creature. He ran past the MULE, his survival pack weighing him down just enough for the wolf to begin catching up to him. Isaac picked up the pace, running as fast and as hard as he could, his muscles screaming bloody murder as they were pushed to their limits.

Isaac saw the downed medivac that he went to earlier, and he started running towards it, hoping that he could get inside to evade the creature. Sadly, luck was not on his side, and he tripped on a large chunk of metal, falling onto his side. He scrambled onto his back, his eyes wide in fear as he watched the over-grown canine tower over him, its claws ready to rip his throat apart.

He closed his eyes and braced himself for the pain, but it never came to him. He opened his eyes to see the zergling from earlier latched onto the canine's back, tearing at the vulnerable flesh of the wolf's spine. The canine snarled in agony and rage, and tried to throw the zergling off, but to no avail, as the zergling stuck to the canine like glue, its razor-sharp talons slashing and hacking at the wolf's vulnerable back.

With a final, agony-filled howl, it fell to the ground, blood pouring out of the gaping gashes in its back. Isaac looked at the zergling with shock and gratitude, as much as he hated to admit the latter. He got up shakily to his feet, and looked at the zergling, which was licking one of its talons clean of blood.

"...I don't know if you can understand me...but...thanks," Isaac slowly said to the zergling, which had turned its head towards him when he had started to talk. "If you didn't come around when you did...I'd be dead. So...I'm grateful, as weird as it sounds," Isaac continued as he noted that the zergling, whereas all the others were bulky, this zergling was slim, and a bit larger than the others.

To his surprise, the zergling nodded and walked towards him, rubbing its head against one of his hands and a purring sound emanated from its throat. Then, it said, _"You are welcome, Terran."_

* * *

A/N: Heya, everyone! If you noticed that the chapters get updated every 6 minutes or so, that's because...I have no idea, actually. I tend to update my chapters as I write them, mostly due to my inexperience as a writer. Anyways, I hope I can keep getting feedback from you guys. Thanks for reading my story, and I hope you've enjoyed! See ya!


	3. A New Friend

Journey of the Lone Marine

A/N: Hello again, everyone! I hope you've enjoyed this story so far! If you want to leave any suggestions for future chapters or to leave comments on what I can improve, then feel free to do so! All flames will be used to fuel the pits of Tartarus, or whatever place of punishment in the afterlife you all have (unless you're atheists, then I dunno what the hell to tell you guys).

**Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story other than my OC's. StarCraft and all related content belong to Blizzard Entertainment.**

* * *

Chapter 3: A New Friend

Isaac stared at the zergling for what seemed like hours, his brain still trying to register what had just happened. When his brain _did_ finally register what had happened, he replied in the appropriate manner, "HOLY SHIT! YOU JUST TALKED!" Isaac scrambled backwards, and away from the zergling. He just _knew_ that he was hallucinating; there was no way that this was real.

The zergling sighed in annoyance, shaking its head in either annoyance, exasperation, or both, as it said in a strangely feminine voice, _"Yes, I can talk. All Zerg can talk, but we prefer to fight rather than to talk, under normal circumstances. However, since we seem to be the only living things around here, I felt the need to communicate with you. Does this make_ any_ sense to you?"_

Isaac could only nod weakly, his mind still reeling from the fact that this zergling, one of the creatures that had mercilessly killed so many of his people, just _spoke_ to him. Either he had hit his head REALLY hard, or had been inhaling some kind of hallucination-inducing fumes, since he couldn't believe that this was actually happening.

After several minutes of awkward silence, Isaac finally worked up the nerve to say, "…Well…since you saved me, I guess I owe you one. What do you want?" Although Isaac still didn't trust this zergling, it saved his life, so he figured that he could trust it for now.

The zergling was silent for a few moments, and then replied, _"The only thing I want is to survive, and if we both help each other to do so, our chances of survival will increase considerably. That is the only reason why I saved you. That and the fact that after that creature was done with you, it would probably try to find me and kill me."_

Isaac slowly nodded in response, and then stood back up. "Well, do you want to come with me to the medivac? It's probably going to be a lot safer than staying outside, right?" Isaac asked the zergling with a somewhat friendly tone as he started walking back in the direction of the medivac.

The zergling nodded and followed Isaac, walking alongside him and the MULE, which they had forgotten was still with them.

Isaac noticed that the zergling was constantly looking at him, as if examining him like a doctor would. He chose to ignore it, and after a few minutes of walking, they finally reached the medivac.

Isaac opened the door, and allowed both the zergling and the MULE to go in first. When he was certain that they were inside, he entered the medivac and closed the door, sealing it shut. Isaac pulled out some of the power cells that he had picked up earlier, and opened up the panel to the medivac's power cells. He took out one of the dead cells, throwing it to the side, and replaced it with one of the power cells that he had scavenged. The medivac began to faintly hum with power, and some of the lights in the medivac's cockpit lit up.

Isaac chuckled softly to himself, "At least we have some light now." Isaac turned around to see the MULE repairing the walls of the medivac's interior, while the zergling was laying on its side, seemingly asleep. Isaac debated on whether or not to interact with the slumbering zergling, which could tear him apart limb-by-limb any time it wanted to.

After a short-lived mental battle, Isaac decided to leave the alien insect alone, and walked over to one of the seats in the medivac's cockpit and fell sat in it, using it as a makeshift bed as he fell asleep upright.

Almost as soon as he fell asleep, Isaac was woken up by the MULE poking him in his side. He looked groggily at the MULE, which in turn pointed towards the zergling, which was clawing at the door.

"Uhh...what are you doing?" Isaac asked the zergling as it whipped around to face him.

_"I need to go outside for a few minutes. Could you please open the door?"_ the zergling asked Isaac.

Isaac thought for a moment, and then opened the door for the zergling, who scrambled out of the medivac and ran off. Isaac stepped out of the medivac, and shielded his eyes from the harsh sunlight that half-blinded him. As soon as his eyes adjusted, he turned to face the MULE and said, "Hey, I forgot to ask you yesterday: Do you have a name? It's kind of awkward to talk to you without one."

The MULE shook its "head" from side to side in reply, showing that it had no name.

Isaac thought for a moment, and then said, "How's about I call you Lewis?"

The MULE chirped happily in confirmation of its new name. The newly-named 'Lewis' chirped with excitement at its new name.

Isaac chuckled to himself, and then asked Lewis, "Do you wanna come with me to look for supplies? I could use the help." When the robot chirped in reply, Isaac began to walk off in search of supplies, with Lewis floating by his side.

* * *

As Isaac walked back to the medivac 30 minutes later, his pack full after gathering some food, water, and other supplies, he saw the zergling huddling near a cocoon. His curiosity getting the best of him, he walked over to the zergling and the cocoon. "Hey, what's going on?" Isaac asked the zergling as it circled around the cocoon, seemingly guarding it.

The zergling snapped its jaws at Isaac and snarled viciously at him, causing the Terran to stumble back in surprise. As soon as the zergling realized that it was Isaac, it stopped growling at him, and returned to guarding the cocoon. After several moments, the zergling said, _"You surprised me, and I reacted by instinct with aggression. I'm sorry for showing hosility towards you, but I had to protect the young one."_

Isaac raised an eyebrow and inquired, "The young one? Do you mean the cocoon?"

The zergling nodded in confirmation, _"Yes, the young one is morphing right now. Once it finishes, it will have the potential to help us survive more effectively."_

Isaac stared at the zergling for a few moments, then replied, "Wait, that cocoon belongs to a Zerg? How can I be sure that when it's done morphing, it won't try to tear me to shreds?"

The zergling sighed and responded, _"Don't worry, I'll prevent the young one from killing you. If it killed you, my chances of survival would diminish."_

Isaac studied the zergling's expression, searching for any signs that it was lying. When he found that it was telling the truth, the marine sighed and said, "Alright, as long as you make sure to keep that thing from eating me alive, then I won't have any problems with it."

The zergling nodded, then resumed circling around the cocoon while Isaac continued walking to the medivac.

* * *

A few hours later, as Isaac was working on the medivac's power grid with the help of Lewis, the Terran heard an ungodly roar, followed by a cry of agony. Isaac, knowing that the cry of pain could have been from another survivor, stopped what he was doing and picked up his rifle, checking to see if he still had enough ammo. Seeing that he still had only 13 bullets, he merely shrugged, then ran off in the direction of the roar.

When he got to the source of the roar, he saw the zergling fighting another one of the wolf monsters. Unlike last time, the wolf-creature seemed to be winning, dodging every attack the zergling made. The zergling tried to dodge its opponent's attacks, but the wolf-beast still managed to slice large gashes in the zergling's sides, causing the zergling to emit a cry of pain each time. The zergling stumbled to the ground, whimpering as the creature raised one of its hands for the killing blow.

Time seemed to slow down for Isaac as he raised his rifle, aiming at the creature's back, and firing the rifle in short, controlled bursts. The bullets went straight through the creature's skin, causing it to roar in pain and turn to face the Terran commander. Isaac kept burst-firing in an effort to keep the beast's attention away from the wounded zergling, who was currently crawling away as fast as it could.

The beast charged Isaac, barreling into the marine and sending him skidding about 15 feet away. Isaac struggled to stand up, only to be knocked down again, this time being pinned down by one of the creature's massive hands. Isaac yelled out in pain as he felt one of the canine's 4-inch claws pierce into his leg

The zergling looked at Isaac, who was still struggling against the beast, and hobbled over to him as fast as it could, growling at the beast in an attempt to distract it. The creature payed no attention to the injured zergling, and continued to pound Isaac into the ground.

Isaac flailed his legs around in an attempt to kick the monster until he hit it between the legs, causing it to howl in pain and let go of the Terran. Isaac saw his rifle out of the corner of his eye, grabbed it, and aimed straight at the monster's head. He prayed that there was still a bullet left in there, then pulled the trigger. As if answering his prayers, the last bullet left in the clip flew out of the barrel and went straight through the wolf-creature's forehead, drilling through its skull and brain, and came right out the other side. The creature froze in place for a few moments, and then fell limply to the ground.

The zergling limped over to Isaac, looking him over as it asked, _"Terran...are you okay? I can sense a great deal of pain coming from you."_ It gently placed a claw on Isaac's leg, eliciting a sharp inhale of breath from the marine.

"Gah! I-I think that thing injured some of the muscles in my leg. It'll heal in time...I hope." Isaac said through clenched teeth as he slowly tried to stand up. He failed at doing so, and he fell back to the ground, holding his injured leg and groaning through his teeth. "Anyways, what about the 'young one'? Shouldn't you be guarding it?" Isaac continued, gritting his teeth together with an audible grinding sound.

The zergling looked at Isaac with an expression that almost resembled concern, and then helped nudge Isaac to his knees, forcing him to lean onto the zergling for support. Isaac slowly stood up, and gently pushed on the zergling, using it as a temporary crutch. With one last look at the cocoon, which had been smashed during the fight, the zergling and Isaac began the walk back to their shelter.

* * *

After what seemed like an hour to them, thry arrived back at the medivac with Lewis following alongside them, chirping in concern as they began loading Isaac onto the medivac. The sun had set half of an hour ago, the moon and stars revealing themselves in their glory once more, lighting up the night sky. As soon as the door was opened, Isaac was led to the pilot's chair in the cockpit, which he sat in with a groan as he was forced to use his injured leg.

"C-could one you get the first-aid kit? It's under the seats in the back," Isaac asked as he sat in the chair. His request was met by the sound of claws clacking against metal and the sound of a box being dragged towards him. When the zergling placed the first-aid kit on his lap, he immediately pulled out a cast and a splint. He first put on the splint, wincing each time he came into contact with his damaged leg. Then he wrapped the cast around his leg, making sure that it stayed firmly in place.

Isaac looked at the zergling, who stared at him for several seconds, then said quietly, _"...You saved me from death at the cost of getting injured...why? Why put yourself at risk for me?"_

The soldier was silent for a few seconds, and then replied with a small sigh, "Because I wanted to return the favor for when _you_ saved my life from that monster." When the zergling donned a confused look, Isaac continued, "What I mean is, since you saved my life, I felt the need to repay the act. And so, when I saved you when you were being attacked, I was returning the action. Does that make sense to you?"

The zergling nodded after a few moments, and a short period of silence ensued before Isaac decided to say, "Hey...uh...would it be alright if I addressed you by a name? It's kind of getting tiring saying, 'Hey, you' and 'Hey, zergling' all the time."

The zergling was silent for a few seconds, and then replied, _"That would be fine. What do you wish to address me as?"_

Isaac thought hard for a little bit, then said, "Why don't I call you 'Eve'? It suits you, in a way. "

The zergling nodded, _"Yes...'Eve'...yes, that name would be excellent. Thank you..."_

"Isaac. My name is Isaac. It's a pleasure to finally be able to address you by name." Isaac responded when Eve trailed off, showing that he hadn't told her his name.

Eve moved her mouth into an expression that Isaac could only guess was a grin, and then curled up as she fell asleep. Isaac followed soon after, a smile on his face as he realized that, in addition to Lewis, he now had two good friends with him. With that, the Terran fell asleep.

* * *

A/N: Hello, everybody! It's me, Daedric! Or Eclipse, if you want to call me that. I hope you guys are enjoying this story as much as I am enjoying writing it. However, I need more feedback on how I can improve this story. If you'd all be so kind as to leave a review, whether it be constructive criticism or ordinary praise, please do so, as it'll help me improve your reading experience. Well, that's all for now! This is DaedricEclipse, signing off for now! See you all later!


	4. Important Update

**Important Update**

A/N: Hello, everyone! This is DaedricEclipse with an important update. I'm sad to say that I won't be updating as frequently as I'd like due to starting my freshman year in high school. I'll try and give you guys an update whenever I can, but I can't promise anything. So, until then, I hope you continue to read and review my story, as I need the encouragement (or criticism). See you all later! - DaedricEclipse

**Update 8/18**

Hello, guys. Listen, if you ever see another story that looks like this one, it is a fake and copied version that someone who hates me has stolen. If at all possible, please get the admins involved to ban this person. I know him as Rahsaan. Please give me a PM if you know where this stolen fanfic is. Thank you.


	5. Important Update 2: September 12

Important Update: 9/12/12

A/N: Heya, everyone! Long time no see, huh? Just wanted to update you guys on a few things. First off, I'm sorry for not updating this in so long. This is mostly due to me being in my first quarter of my freshman year in high school. I've had a lot of homework lately (drowning in it, rather) and what time I _did_ have I spent on participating in chat-room role-playing (sorry ^^''), watching YouTube, checking on the blogs I follow on Tumblr, and spending time with my fellow bronies (yes, I'm a brony. Let's leave it at that). Luckily, tomorrow is the last day of my first 9 weeks of high school, which means that after tomorrow, I get 3 weeks of sweet, glorious FREEDOM! And during those 3 weeks, I'll try and update as best as I can for you guys. Again, if you have any thoughts, comments, or criticism on what I can do or improve on, then go on ahead! I could use the feedback. However, flamers will be ignored and fed to my psychotic, meat-eating rabbit Rico. And even if I don't have a rabbit like that, then flames shall be used to fuel the pits of Tartarus. For all of you who _have_ been waiting patiently for this story to progress: thank you.

This is DaedricEclipse, signing off! See you guys later!


	6. Settling In

Journey of the Lone Marine

Chapter 6: Settling In

A/N: Hello, everyone! DaedricEclipse here! I am SO sorry for being inactive/on hiatus for so long! There's been a lot of stuff going on in my life: high school, family, laziness, my laptop's motherboard burning out, and general lack of time to write. But I'm here now with my latest chapter! I hope you all enjoy it, and I hope you can forgive me for getting this out to you guys so late!

**Disclaimer: I do not own StarCraft. I only own my OC's. All rights to StarCraft and related content belong to Blizzard Entertainment. Reviews or constructive criticism are welcome, but any malicious or insulting review/flames will be ignored and used to fuel the pits of Tartarus/Hell.**

* * *

Chapter 6: Settling In

Isaac sat on the ground outside of the medivac, exhausted from all of the work he and his little group had been doing. It had been about a week since the end of the battle, and his group had been working furiously on setting up a small base of operations. Isaac and Lewis had cleared out rubble and debris from the immediate area, with Eve acting as their lookout. Isaac took out his canteen, which he had filled with water that he had found on the bodies of several Terrans. He opened the cap to his canteen, drank a bit of the water, and sealed the canteen back up, putting it to the side.

He looked at Eve, who was resting in the sun about 5 feet away from him. Her tail lazily wagged from side-to-side, which Isaac thought was somehow cute. She lazily opened one of her eyes, as if sensing that Isaac was looking at her, the zergling's voice echoing in his head, _"Hello, Isaac. Do you need something?"_

Isaac, who knew he'd never get used to hearing someone else's voice in his head, then replied, "Nothing, really. I just wanted to glance over at you and see what you're doing."

The zergling nodded, and then closed her eyes again, her tail beginning to wag from side-to-side once more.

Isaac looked around him, searching for something to ease his boredom for the time-being. He closed his eyes, trying to think of something to do. One of the most important things that marines were taught during training was to keep your mind focused and alert, otherwise it could cost a marine his life during times of war.

The familiar sound of Lewis chirping caught Isaac's attention, the marine turning to face the MULE. The robot waved a mechanical arm, then hovered over to the husk of a Protoss Void Ray.

Having nothing else to do, the Terran stood up, getting the stiffness out of his joints, then walked over to Lewis. "So, what do you want, buddy? Do you have something to show me?" Isaac asked the floating robot, who chirped in response.

Lewis tapped on the Void Ray's hull a few times, to which something on the inside tapped back. Lewis looked at Isaac, who merely stared at the Void Ray husk in shock.

"Something is still _alive_ in there? No one could have survived if this thing crashed," Isaac told both Lewis and himself, walking up to the Void Ray shell and looking for an opening of any kind. Noticing a door-like indentation on the left side, the Terran felt around for any sort of door mechanism.

Needless to say, the door opening seemingly on its own scared the hell out of Isaac, making him jump and stumble backwards. On the other side of the door was a damaged-beyond-repair Protoss probe that shakily hovered over to the marine. The probe came within five feet of Isaac before falling to the ground, its body sparking as it turned gray from death.

Isaac stared at the probe, shaking his head at the loss of another potential "ally" to help him survive. Regardless, the Terran walked into the Void Ray and searched every nook and cranny for anything he could scavenge.

Seeing that there wasn't anything useful or in good condition in the Void Ray, Isaac walked out of the Protoss aircraft, not bothering to close the door. He stopped at the body of the probe and, after thinking for a few moments, picked it up and carried it with him back to the base.

* * *

Isaac inspected the probe as soon as he got back to the base and, to his surprise, he found that the probe wasn't dead, but was instead in hibernation mode until it was powered up again. Knowing that with the current level of power he and the others had, the probe wouldn't be back online for a little while. With a sigh, Isaac walked into the medivac and placed the probe on the pilot's chair.

The marine walked to the back of the medivac, where he had set up a small bed a few nights before. Feeling very drowsy and tired, Isaac was ready to go to bed, but not before making sure to let in Lewis and Eve so that he could close the door for tonight.

After closing the door and making sure that they'd be safe for the night, Isaac laid down on his bed and fell asleep within seconds.

* * *

Heya, everyone! Just wanted to actually finish this chapter after having it seem like I had put this story and _Redemption_ on a long hiatus. I hope you all understand that I've been REALLY busy with final exams and general crap that comes with the freshman year of high school. In any case, I'll see you guys later! Ciao! - DaedricEclipse


End file.
